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Prep Expert

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6.4

Overall Score

LAST UPDATED: February 9th, 2024

Prep Expert was founded by Dr. Shaan Patel in 2011, who grew up attending an inner-city public school and developed study habits that improved his SAT score from average to perfect. Patel went on to found 2400 Expert to help other students prepare for college entrance exams. While the company was successful, bringing in about $1 million in sales a year, it was Patel’s appearance on Shark Tank in 2016 that rocketed the company into the public eye with Mark Cuban as a partner. One big change that came from its partnership with Cuban was its name change to Prep Expert. 

The company aims to help students change their lives by improving their scores on the SAT, ACT, AP Exams, and GMAT. Additionally, Prep Expert offers one-on-one private tutoring sessions and college admissions consulting. The company offers three-week, six-week, weekend review, and self-paced courses online and six-week in-person courses in Princeton, New Jersey and Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Online classes are taught in a virtual classroom program that is live online. Students view a lesson that is identical to a regular classroom with the teacher front and center. Students can use the chat box to interact with the instructor and other students. In addition, the entire class is recorded for future viewing if students cannot attend a session or need additional review.

SAT and ACT Classes

SAT and ACT classes are offered in three-week, six-week, self-paced, and weekend review formats. Prep Expert’s 6-Week Flagship Course meets for six hours of class twice per week, with a four-hour exam each week for a total of 60 course hours. Its four-hour exams are intended to help students build testing stamina needed for the actual exam. Homework is assigned throughout the course for students to complete between classes. The Prep Expert 6-Week Flagship Course typically starts at $999. 

AP Exams

Prep Expert offers AP exam test review classes taught by perfect-score AP Exam instructors via videos that can be watched at your child's convenience. Classes cover all high-yield AP exam content and are three hours long per exam. 

It offers a full AP Complete Exam Review for students who want to brush up on all AP curriculum, and AP Math, AP Science, and AP History Reviews for students interested in specific course subjects. A complete AP Review costs $199 and a one-day review (AP Math, AP Science, and AP History) costs $99. 

GMAT

Its GMAT Video Course is self-paced and teaches students over 100 strategies developed and taught by MD/MBA student and Prep Expert Founder Dr. Shaan Patel. The course offers 30 hours of video content of Patel teaching hundreds of strategies and practice problems to show students how to ace the GMAT. Students have access to the course for up to one year after purchase. The course costs $499. 

Private Tutoring

For those looking for a one-on-one learning experience, Prep Expert offers private tutoring for over one hundred K-12 academic subjects and tests. Each tutoring session is two hours long and scheduled around a time most convenient for the student. Prep Expert tutors primarily work with students via its online tutoring platform, but can meet students in-person in certain areas of the country based on their geographic location. Students will also be asked to take practice tests on their own at home — which is absolutely essential for large score improvements. Private tutoring sessions start at $29 per hour.

Admissions Counseling

In addition to its typical tutoring and test prep courses, Prep Expert offers admissions counseling for a hefty price tag. Its admissions counselors advise students and their families on how to get admitted to top colleges and win scholarships. In 2018 and 2019, 97 percent of its students were admitted to at least one top-three choice college and won millions of dollars of merit-scholarships. Admissions counseling packages include planning, application strategy, essay edits and review, school selection advising, and more. Admissions counseling packages start at $6,999. 

Prep Expert has dynamic prices and they may rise due to demand and start date. The sooner a student enrolls typically the better price. The company also regularly offers discount codes.

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The Good

  • Course Options
  • Money-Back Guarantee
  • Free Classes
  • High Standards for Instructor Selection

Course Options

Prep Expert offers several course options for SAT and ACT and GMAT preparation. Customers can purchase a self-paced video course, which includes 30 hours of videos, ebooks, and practice exams. The company also offers three-week and six-week online courses where students participate in a scheduled live virtual classroom; these courses also include ebooks and practice exams. In addition, Prep Expert offers in-person courses in several cities across the United States. 

Customers who want a one-on-one experience can sign up for private tutoring. Tutoring sessions are two hours long. These sessions are taught by the same instructors who teach in-person courses. Customers can purchase 4, 8, 16, 24, 36 and 48-hour packages. In addition to ACT and SAT tutoring, students can also receive tutoring for AP exams. 

Money-Back Guarantee

Prep Expert offers a variety of money-back guarantees on the majority of its course offerings. While the industry’s leading competitor also offers a money-back guarantee, it is based only on a student scoring higher than their baseline test score, even if it is one point higher. 

Prep Expert’s six-week live online and in-person SAT courses offer an industry-leading 200 point score improvement guarantee if your starting score is 1250 or less. For those students whose scores are 1260 and above, Prep Expert guarantees an increase up to 1450. For the three-week live online and in-person SAT courses, it offers a 100 point score improvement guarantee if your starting score is 1350 or less. For those students whose scores are 1360 and above, Prep Expert guarantees an increase up to 1450. 

ACT courses offer a similar guarantee. Students who have a 28 or less as their starting score are guaranteed to increase four points and those with starting scores of 29 or above are guaranteed to increase to a 32. Its three-week live online and in-person ACT courses come with a two point score improvement guarantee if your starting score is 30 or less. For those students whose scores are 31 and above, Prep Expert guarantees an increase up to a 32.

Other courses also come with money-back guarantees, including even the self-paced video courses for the SAT, ACT, and GMAT. 

Free Class

Prep Expert gives interested customers access to several free webinars presented by Dr. Shaan Patel and other experts on its site. These classes discuss how to raise scores, receive scholarships, and offer advice for applying to college.

High Standards for Instructor Selection

Prep Expert says it only hires the best instructors who truly care about the success of every student. Not only has every Prep Expert tutor scored in the top 1 percent of the standardized test that they teach, but each has also demonstrated an exceptional ability to convey material in a fun, personalized, and results-driven way.

With the exception of certain TAs, all instructors must verify their 99th percentile score on the SAT, ACT, or GMAT, whichever they are selected to instruct. Prep Expert “auditions” instructors by asking them to teach a lesson, so that it can verify their talent in communicating difficult material. Accolades of its instructor group include having degrees from Harvard, Yale, and MIT, achieving perfect SAT scores, and having advanced graduate degrees (PhDs, MDs, MBAs, etc.).

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The Bad

  • High Prices
  • Limited Availability of On-Site Classes
  • Limited Courses Offered

High Prices

Though Prep Expert guarantees results, its prices are much higher than some competitors:

  • Private tutoring — starting at $699 for 4 hours
  • Self-paced — $699
  • 6-week online — $999
  • 6-week in-person — $1,299
  • Review camp — $499

Limited Availability of On-Site Classes

Prep Expert’s on-site classes are only currently available in two locations. Customers who do not live near these locations must rely on online courses. On-site classes are available in Las Vegas, Nevada and Princeton, New Jersey 

Private tutoring sessions are available online for students who do not live near one of these locations. Many competitors have large networks of in-person course offerings throughout the country.

Limited Courses Offered

Prep Expert only offers courses in ACT, SAT, AP Exams, and GMAT preparation. This specialization may make it desirable for customers seeking courses for these tests; however, customers who are preparing for any other test will have to seek other companies with more course offerings. It does offer a variety of course types, such as live online, in person, tutoring and college admissions consulting.

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The Bottom Line

Prep Expert offers a variety of choices for high school students seeking to achieve high scores on the ACT or SAT. It offers an industry standout score guarantee, which should come as a relief to repeat test-takers. Customers have a variety of options to meet their specific learning needs; however, their prices are much higher than some competitors. Customers interested in self-paced courses can find many less expensive options. We recommend looking at other companies before purchasing Prep Expert’s self-paced courses.

That being said, Prep Expert’s private tutoring and in-person sessions may be worth the price to customers who are serious about improving their ACT or SAT score. Before considering in-person classes, make sure they are available in your area. Customers seeking preparation courses for tests other than the SAT, ACT, or GMAT will need to look at other companies. 

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Riddah S Philadelphia, PA

Prep Expert raised my score by 200 points. Although the course was vigorous,Clay and Kevin made every session enjoyable and fun while still imparting kowledge.

4 years ago

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Seth Boudoin Long Beach, MS

Helped prepare me for upcoming exams and tests in high school but a bit pricey for me.

4 years ago